


The Dead Tell No Lies

by whispering_willowing_wisps



Category: The Umbrella Academy (Comics), The Umbrella Academy (TV)
Genre: BAMF Klaus Hargreeves, Ben Hargreeves' Tentacles | Bentacles, Canon-Typical Violence, Canonical Child Abuse, Gen, Klaus Hargreeves Deserves Better, Multilingual Klaus, OC Nannies, Protective Klaus Hargreeves, Reginald Hargreeves' A+ Parenting, Vanya Hargreeves Deserves Better, smart klaus, will update tags as I go
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-06-12
Updated: 2020-07-09
Packaged: 2021-03-03 22:40:03
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 8
Words: 9,841
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24673225
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/whispering_willowing_wisps/pseuds/whispering_willowing_wisps
Summary: Sir Reginald Hargreeves used Number Three's ability against her siblings, making them forget fundamental parts of themselves. He forgot one thing. Rumors don’t work on dead people.orWhat if Klaus used his full potential.
Relationships: Ben Hargreeves & Klaus Hargreeves, Ben Hargreeves & Klaus Hargreeves & Vanya Hargreeves, Ben Hargreeves & Vanya Hargreeves, Klaus Hargreeves & Vanya Hargreeves, Number Five | The Boy & Allison & Ben & Diego & Klaus & Luther & Vanya, Number Five | The Boy & Ben Hargreeves & Klaus Hargreeves & Vanya Hargreeves
Comments: 84
Kudos: 1137





	1. Extraordinary

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm hoping that this will be an entire series rewrite but I have no update schedule. yet. hope you enjoy!

On the first day of October 1984, forty-three women around the world simultaneously gave birth. None of the women showed any prior signs of pregnancy. Sir Reginald Hargreeves, eccentric billionaire and playboy adventurer, made it his personal mission to find and buy adopt as many of these children as possible.

He got seven of them.

He knew, in the way he knew most things, that these children would be extraordinary. He didn’t quite know what they could do yet, but he knew that these seven children would be vital for the survival of the world.

He decided that the care and upkeep of the children would be left to his assistant Pogo and the seven nannies he hired for them, while he would study them. As he didn’t want the children to grow up with the foolish notion that they were anything but his soldiers he gave them numbers instead of names. They were numbered in the order he acquired them. 

The seven nannies were well paid to say nothing about this operation to anyone outside. They were also the best of the best; most of them having studied child psychology along with specializing in other fields. They were told to never interrupt or bother Sir Reginald for anything less than an extraordinary event. 

They were each assigned to a child and were left wondering what Sir Reginald counts as extraordinary. 

Assigned to Number One was Nanny Lisa, a soft-spoken woman from Canada who specialized in the sciences and thought that she got lucky with Number One, as he was rarely fussy and mostly slept and ate for their first year.

Nanny Emma took care of Number Two and was an outgoing English woman who coddled Number Two as much as she was allowed to. She specialized in physical education. 

Number Three’s caretaker was Nanny Mia, a fiercely independent Latina woman who was happy with one of the two girls of the bunch and her expertise was the personal and social skills of young children.

Nanny Avery was in charge of Number Four, she had the greatest background in dealing with infants and she used most of them on fussy little Number Four. She was a polyglot who usually calmed Number Four down with multilingual lullabies. 

The mathematics specialist was Nanny Maria in charge of Number Five. She was a no-nonsense woman who tended to try and indoctrinate the children into math early.

Nanny Audrey was a small sarcastic nanny in charge of both Number Six and literature. She would often read novels to Number Six to lull him to sleep.

Number Seven was taken care of by Nanny Luna, the musician. She was the first one to notice anything extraordinary about her charge. 

The children were just past eight months old and all of the children were developing mostly on schedule. Number One was by far the most active of the children, and Number Four seemed to be understanding the Nannies better than the others. That night, however, brought attention to Number Seven. 

As part of her routine to get Number Seven to sleep during restless nights, such as that night, Nanny Luna brought out her violin to play a calming melody. She was half-way through her song when a strange wind started up in the room. The nanny checked the window, which was closed, and the door, also closed, to try and figure out where the wind was coming from. The only thing she could find was a soft glow coming from Number Seven's crib! As this was, to her, extraordinary, she made sure Number Seven was asleep and ran to find Sir Reginald in his office.

After that night, Number Seven spent an hour each week with Sir Reginald so he could study her power. 

They continued to otherwise develop normally in their first year when the next extraordinary thing happened; Number Four started to talk. Most babies' first word is around their first birthday so a child speaking at eight-and-a-half months old is rare, but what is even rarer is the language that Number Four’s first word was in; German. German just happened to be a language that Nanny Avery didn’t speak, as it happened only Sir Reginald spoke German, but as he didn’t interact with the children he could be the one teaching Number Four. At this oddity, Number Four spent several hours of testing with Sir Reginald, which remained inconclusive. 

However, if they had managed to figure out that Number Four speaking early was a side effect of his power they may have figured out that he was the first child to come into their powers. As it is, Number Four’s powers would be noticed third.

Nanny Lisa was the next to come to Sir Reginald with the extraordinary. It seemed as if Number One, who has been walking since nine months, had managed to break his crib walls in order to leave the crib.

Number One went to testing. He had super strength.

Number Four developed his secondary power after his first birthday. Number Six revealed his power after his first birthday. These events happened at the same time.

It went like this: Numbers Four and Six were playing together, Number Six felt something in his stomach also wanting to play, Number Six let that something out, it went everywhere, Number Four saved himself using telekinesis. The nannies sprinted to Sir Reginald's office. Both children went to testing. 

Number Six was an interdimensional portal leading to eldritch beings. Number Four had telekinesis.

They figured out Number Five’s power next when he got sick. Anytime he sneezed, he would appear somewhere else.

Number Five could teleport.

On their second birthday, the children started lessons on Sir Reginald's orders. Each of the nannies started them on the basics. Learning the alphabet, learning their numbers, speaking, building sentences, and identifying objects. Numbers Four and Five started to excel while others learned at an average rate for their age. Number Two needed extra attention on speech. 

It was during an extra speech lesson that they found out Number Two’s power. He was having trouble getting the full word out and, as two-year-olds do, threw a fit. He started to throw anything in his vicinity at his nanny, and everything hit its target. This was extraordinary in that some of his toys started to go to the side and would curve through the air to hit his target.

He was tested. He can curve the trajectory of anything he throws.

On their third birthday, Number Three’s power manifested. Her nanny was trying to get her into the bath before her bedtime and Number Three didn’t want to. She ran and hid, trying not to be found. Eventually, her nanny caught up to her and tried to take her to her bath, telling her that Mr. Pogo told her she had to take a bath. Number Three, desperately, replied, saying that Sir Reginald told her she didn’t have to take a bath. The words seemed to echo in the air and nanny Mia suddenly thought that Number Three was right, that of course, Sir Reginald didn’t want her to take a bath. However, soon, nanny Mia shook it off, and remembering the other children's abilities, took her to Sir Reginald.

Number Three was tested. Her words allowed her to manipulate the mind.

All of the children had powers that were tested and they were training them daily. The household settled into a routine, confident that they could take the next obstacle thrown their way.

Then the nannies started dying.


	2. Baby's First Death Count

The first nanny to die was Nanny Avery, Number Four’s Nanny. Nanny Avery had been in a fatal car crash and had to be replaced. The new nanny, Nanny Isobel, had been told by the other nannies about the abilities of the children and was told that her charge, Number Four, had night terrors and imaginary friends. Nanny Isobel was under strict orders from Sir Reginald to get Number Four to stop ‘wasting time’ on his imaginary friends.

It was at this time, when Nanny Isobel was trying to tell Number Four that ‘the man with the funny neck’ wasn’t real, that his primary power finally came to light. The nanny tried to get Number Four to focus on her, but he kept looking over her shoulder and mumbling to himself. As this nanny was the replacement for Nanny Avery and all of her duties she was multilingual. Because of this she recognized what he was saying in Spanish and it made her even more confused than before, it seemed like he was talking to his old, deceased nanny. This alarmed her as she was told that Number Four was remarkably aware of what was happening around him and now it seemed like he wasn’t even aware that she was gone.

Sir Reginald had also noticed this, as he had cameras everywhere and was trying to see how losing someone would affect the children. As he was more used to the extraordinary than the new nanny he decided to test Number Four. Question after question for little Number Four led them to the fact that he could see the dead, and that he was, in fact, the first of his siblings to get both a primary and secondary power.

This revelation led to the second death.

Number Four’s new nanny was deeply religious and being faced with a freezing child with uncanny eyes that saw too much, including the dead, was the tipping point for her. She had been willing to work with these unnaturally born children, with their  _ abilities, _ but she hadn’t signed up for demon children. She was just going to quit and be done with it, but on the way to bath time with Number Four she broke. Number Four was going on and on to one of  ~~ his ghosts ~~ his imaginary friends, when he suddenly mentioned her Abuelo. Her Abuelo who had died years ago, who had taught her his religion and belief, and Nanny Isobel made a decision.

When Number Four was in the bathtub she held him under the water and started praying.

Number Four died.

Nanny Isobel was removed to the basement and Number Four breathed again. Sir Reginald was forbidden from testing Number Four’s resurrection by Pogo, in the only time they argued. 

Nanny Isobel disappeared, only to be seen by Number Four.

The fourth death didn’t have to do with Number Four. It had to do with Number Six. 

Number Six and Nanny Audrey were working on his control of  **Them** by having  **Them** pick up building blocks and stack them on top of each other. Number Six had done this countless times before, however, this time his door was open. This was important because Number Two was practicing his knife throwing in the hallway outside. This was important because it let one of Number Two’s knives curve into Number Six’s room. This is important because the knife managed to hit  **Them** . This was important because  **They** thought there was a threat to  **Them** .  **They** lashed out. 

Nanny Audrey was replaced by Nanny Lucy.

Number Seven caused death number five.

The children were excelling in personal training with Sir Reginald. They all had tasks to complete. These tasks were somewhat appropriate for three-year-olds, but they all learned their task. Number Seven’s task was to focus on a noise and, to her mind, make the thing go away. She usually made the thing go away by breaking it. 

Number Seven didn’t like oatmeal. She especially didn’t like plain oatmeal. Her nanny tried to get her to eat the plain oatmeal. The kettle was boiling and making a nice noise. She thought back to her training. She made her nanny go away.

Her new nanny was Nanny Caroline. 

The children turned four and they were encouraged to use their powers more often.

Number Seven’s new nanny was Nanny Naomi.

Number Six got upset in the garden. They needed a new gardener.

Number Seven needed a new nanny.

**They** stopped liking Nanny Lucy.

Number Six needed a new nanny.

Number Four had a nightmare. He lost control. The dead came back to life. His nanny was in the way.

Number Four needed a new nanny.

Sir Reginald created Grace.


	3. Rumour Mongering

Grace took over all of the other nannies duties when she was created. She had access to 48 terabytes of data about child-raising and medical care with the capacity to add more. She was durable enough to withstand a household of superpowered children. Most importantly, she reported directly back to Sir Reginald.

The children who have had the same nannies their entire lives didn’t like this change. Grace was quickly put to the test. Number One tried to crush her. Number Two tried to stab her. Number Three tried to rumour her. Number Five tried to run away.

They failed.

The children who have had several nannies were content to let her be. Number Four sees nobody around like some of the other nannies and she couldn’t hurt him. Number Six could play with her without worrying about hurting her. Number Seven can’t break her.

Sir Reginald decided to increase the children’s training when Number Two developed his secondary power while having swimming lessons. (He can't drown)

Sir Reginald, of course, didn’t accept age as an excuse and demanded the best out of the children, no matter the fact that they’re four years old. Due to this, the children’s training got more demanding.

Number One was required to constantly increase his weights and was constantly told that he was Number One, The Leader. Number One worked his hardest to prove that he’s the best.

Number Two had to hit targets all around the room while facing one way, he also was dunked into tanks of various liquids to figure out his secondary power. He was pitted up against his best friend, Number One, in everything that they did.

Number Three was pushed to figure out how far her abilities could go. This led to her rumouring her siblings for anything and everything as ‘practice’.

Number Five was told to jump with precision and speed. He dove into math to try and get to the point of understanding his powers.

Number Six was taught control and restraint. He became terrified of hurting his siblings once he understood what death was.

Numbers Four and Seven each had their own problems with their powers. They were both solved the same way.

Number Four, having two strong power sets, had trouble training each one to precision. Sir Reginald wanted him to be absolutely perfect at both powers. He wanted him to be able to throw and juggle things with his mind. He wanted him to control the dead, get all of their information. Number Four, however, had been focusing on his telekinesis and not his powers over the dead. Sir Reginald was displeased.

He made a decision. If Number Four couldn’t focus on his primary abilities then his secondary powers must be removed from the equation. Number Three had progressed enough in her own abilities that she could remove the knowledge of Number Four’s telekinetic abilities from the children’s minds.

Number Seven’s trouble with her powers was that she was too powerful. She had excellent control over her powers, however, with that control was the belief that she was more powerful than her siblings, that she didn’t have to listen to Sir Reginald. Sir Reginald couldn’t let that continue. She was too powerful and she was a threat.

She could also be rumoured. 

Plans made Sir Reginald needed only to implement them. Number Seven needed to be isolated, unable to fight back. Mood suppressants and heavy anti-anxiety medication were given. She was contained in the soundproof chamber underneath the house. Lies were told to the other children about her health. Grace’s protection protocols were altered to make sure Number Seven stayed in the chamber.

Meanwhile, Number Four was brought up to Sir Reginald's Office. Number Three was in the room with them. Number Three had been told that Numbers Four and Seven’s powers were destroying them. Number Three had been told that Number Four’s telekinesis was uncontrollable, untameable, unnecessary.

_I heard a_ **_rumour_ **_that you forgot you had telekinesis…_

Number Four still obeyed. Number Four was still useful.

Number Three was brought into the soundproof chamber. Number Three had been told that Number Seven’s powers were ripping her apart. She had been told that they were dangerous, disastrous, disobedient. 

_I heard a_ **_rumour_ **_you think that you're just Ordinary…_

Number Three was brought to the rest of her siblings, not allowed a break. She was told that for their own safety they must forget Number Four’s telekinesis and Number Seven’s powers.

_I heard a_ **_rumour_** _that you forgot Number Four’s telekinesis…_

_I heard a_ **_rumour_** _that you think Number Seven’s just Ordinary…_

Number Seven was now Ordinary. She forgot about her powers, her control, her destruction. 

Number Four would have forgotten his telekinesis. He would have forgotten his control, his ability, his advantage.

He didn’t.

Number Three can’t rumour dead people.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> and it begins...


	4. Number Four

Four listened. Many people thought he didn’t because he didn’t always hear what the living were saying, but he heard more than they thought. The dead were honest and desperate for someone to hear them.

Four heard them. Four _listened_ to them and talked to them. Maybe sometimes he didn’t want to because they were loud, and cold, and gruesome. But most of the time he heard what they said. Four also had an excellent memory. He remembered their nannies before Ms. Grace. He remembered playing with them, loving them. It hasn’t changed. All of the nannies stayed as ghosts, watching over their charges forevermore. 

So. Four listens. They tell him Sir Reginald is abusive. They tell him Reginald is no father. They tell him Sir Reginald was afraid of their powers, of their defiance. They tell him that Seven isn’t Ordinary. That she was the most powerful of all the siblings. They tell him Three stole his memory. They tell him Sir Reginald stole his Telekinesis. They tell him that Sir Reginald is breaking them, molding them, using them, killing them.

Four listens. And he learns.

He learns that the ones in charge of him don’t care about him. He learns that he’s a weapon that will go down a predetermined path or be broken. It doesn't matter that those are the same in the end. He learns that he can be afraid or he can get ahead.

He gets ahead.

He’s too young at this point to go against ~~Sir~~ Reginald. He’s only four.

He relearns his telekinetic control while learning to avoid the cameras. He learns to work with the ghosts. He trusts the ghosts (the dead have no reason to lie, no motives) and he trusts in himself. He learns to act. Shying away from the ghosts during training that he talks to afterwards. He hides. He adapts.

\- - -

They turn five. 

Reginald has decided that this was the perfect age to test the children's intelligence. All seven of them go into their classroom and start on the first of the tests. Reginald created this room specifically to prevent cheating of any kind. There were power dampeners in the wall so Three couldn’t rumour the others into giving her the answers. Five couldn’t teleport outside of the room for answers. Most importantly, Four couldn’t ask the ghosts for the answers.

The entire day is dedicated to testing the Academy’s intelligence. These tests will split the children up into separate classes, entirely based on ability.

To Reginald the results are surprising. 

Two of the children are certified geniuses. 

Number Five isn’t so surprising. He’s a mathematical genius and can instinctively understand physics.

Number Four, however, is surprising, to Reginald that is. Reginald has already written off Four because he’s loud and distracting and afraid and _weak._ What Reginald fails to see is that Four currently speaks four languages fluently, and is learning another two. Four also is better at general science, including chemistry and biology, than anyone else in the family.

Number Six is below the two geniuses, scoring high in literature and logic.

Then it goes; Seven, Three, One, and Two.

It's a shame that to Reginald that his Number One performed so lowly, nevermind that he was still above average for his age.

They’re split into separate classes. Four and Five. Three, Six, and Seven. One and Two. No one but Four and Five are told which level they’re on.

They’re all taught by Grace, by Mom, because she can answer most any question (Four tested it). When not in class they’re either training their bodies or their powers. Seven learns the violin.

\- - -

They start pairing off. 

Instead of seven kids, seven siblings, it's a school of seven people forming cliques. One and Three get close, the favorites. Two, Four, and Six forms as the evens. Four and Six are closest but don’t want to exclude Two. Four and Five, the geniuses. Five and Seven, somehow they work. Six and Seven, the quiet ones. One and Two, the rivals. Three, Four, and Seven, for the ‘girly’ aspects of life. Four, Five, and Six, the dumbasses.

They yell and they fight and they get jealous and they get revenge. They’re kids but they have superpowers. They’re growing but they’re expected to be mature. They love each other but they hate everyone.

They turn six.

They have had group training for years by now. Individual training for longer. Reginald steps up their training. They learn martial arts. They have physical training every day now. Personal training once a week. They’re expected to do more, to be better in school.

One gets endurance training. He goes harder for longer.

Two curves his knives around his siblings, the threat of hitting them always there. Four gets volun _told_ most often to sit in front of the target.

Three gets told to bend and break minds. She goes until her voice is croaking and scratching and not entirely there.

Four gets the Mausoleum. Hours as training, a day as punishment. He’s expected to break. He’s given an ouija board and tarot cards and no instructions.

Five jumps and jumps and jumps. Farther, faster (faster than a bullet), better. He scatters his molecules over and over again until he pukes.

Six kills. Small animals, big animals. Rabbit, deer, cows. He kills until the air mists red, again and again. He kills until he’s afraid of himself.

Seven plays. Violin scales up and down. Melodies calming **Them** and the ghosts alike. They all listen to her.

\- - -

Four discovers a new power.

He doesn't realize it at first. It's only after he and Six have the same dream every night for a week that he realizes it. 

He can dream walk.

At first, he’s confused. He already has a secondary power, why would he have a third? It turns out that his dream walking is connected to his ability to see the dead. Go figure.

His main power, it turns out, is not just _seeing_ the dead, but it deals with souls. Ghosts are just soul imprints that haven’t moved on. Dreamwalking is projecting his consciousness toward another soul while they’re sleeping. Depending on how his powers evolve, he could potentially possess people.

He doesn’t tell Reginald. 

He trains in secret. He has to tell Six because he can’t dream walk without another person but that's ok because Six likes him the best. It’s ok because it means that Four needs to sleep in Six’s room, the cold of his ghosts canceling out the heat of **Them**. 

He and Six spend the nights dreaming together, talking and laughing and playing and anything else not allowed during the day.

They’re happy together.


	5. The Game is Afoot

They’re seven when Four figures out Reginald's plan for him. 

At this point, Four has learned to push back the ghosts that he doesn’t want to see and keep the ghosts that he does with him. He can also give commands and they will be fulfilled. Four uses this as a network of spies that all answer to only him. There are two ghosts on Reginald at all times. 

_ If this was another life, Four would be terrified of the ghosts. Four would do anything to make them go away. In another life they didn’t tell him about the rumours, they didn’t give him any reason to trust them. In another life, Four goes down the path Reginald lays out for him willingly, blindly. This life, however, Four listened and learned about his powers out of necessity, and while he was still haunted by screaming and wailing ghosts, while he is still terrified of the Mausoleum, he has found the positives of his power - information. _

The ghosts on Reginald watch him and listen to him and read over his shoulder. They tell Four when Reginald is pissed, they tell him when personal training is coming, most importantly, they tell him what Reginald is planning with them.

They’ve told Four that Reginald thinks he’s neutralizing the threats to earth by breaking some of them. They’ve told him that Reginald is in the process of neutralizing Four and Six. Four has been told that he’s seen as a threat, that Six is a threat. The Mausoleum is used in order to get Four afraid of his powers, to make him fail to live up to his potential. Six is made to kill over and over again to make him afraid of  **Them** and to refuse to work with  **Them.**

The ghosts have let Four know how to act like he was following Reginald's path, to get the attention off of him. He fits into the status quo of being the scared disappointment while spitefully growing his power in the shadows. 

The status quo changes when he’s pushed down the stairs. 

Four has never been afraid to express himself through clothing. It used to mean nail polish and borrowed skirts but a while ago Four stole one of  ~~ Mom’s ~~ Grace’s heels to try on. He’s spent some time walking around in them, enough time that everybody else has seen him in them. 

He is not wearing them when he starts to go downstairs.

Nanny Avery, currently assigned to Reginald, heralded his arrival behind Four. Before he could do anything other than see the malice in Reginald’s eyes and the panic in Nanny Avery’s, Reginald's cane swung into him. He lost his balance and fell. He tumbled down, trying to stop, but hitting each step harder than the one before until finally… 

Crack! 

Four knew no more.

- - -

He woke up in a greyscale world. 

Four is not proud of it, but he may have panicked waking up somewhere not his room nor the infirmary. He definitely panicked. Pushing his panic aside, he looked around, trying to figure out why his head hurt.

A little girl on a bike rode up to him. She’s also grey. Four’s blazer is the only spot of color in this entire world.

“I don't like you,” She says.

“You don’t belong here,” She says.

Four feels like she’s lying, he feels more at home here than he ever did in the land of the living. Because he’s dead, in the land of the dead, and he sees dead people. Why can’t he stay here?

The world goes black again.

- - -

He’s in the infirmary. It’s quiet. 

At first, Four doesn’t think about how quiet it is, he’s busy thinking about how he’s pretty sure he met God. Then, the silence registers, because he’s gone every single day of his life with some kind of noise, and the silence was a foreign concept. He looks around.

There are no ghosts.

Immediately emotions start warring. Elation because he’s gotten rid of the screamers, the wailers. Panic as he has never been truly alone before and the nice ghosts are gone as well. 

He panics even more as, when he went to call out for someone, anybody, his mouth wouldn’t open. He starts hyperventilating. 

The door opens and Grace comes in. (not Mom, never Mom)

She smiles a sad smile and tells him what happened.

He  ~~ was pushed ~~ fell down the stairs. He tripped trying to go down while wearing her heels. He broke his jaw. He won’t be able to talk for weeks.

She doesn’t say that the heels are untouched in the back of his closet. She doesn’t say he cracked his skull. She doesn’t say that he was flatlining when he got to the infirmary. She doesn’t say he was dead. She doesn’t say what his siblings were told. She doesn’t say that he has to follow the official story.

He heard it anyway. (it's the only thing he heard)

- - -

Reginald comes to the infirmary hours later. He has the same Look in his eyes that he always has when something new presents itself. The Look always ends up in testing and experimenting on his  ~~ property ~~ children. The Look that gets more intense when he notices Four’s attention is only on him, not bouncing around the room, looking at things that no one else sees. 

Four’s told that the morphine he was given seems to inhibit his powers, making the ghosts disappear. He’s told that he must undergo testing when he’s healed to see what effect drugs have on the ghosts.

He doesn’t like the calculating gleam in Reginald's eyes. Doesn’t know what he has planned.

- - -

It takes a week and a half for the ghosts to come back, for his telekinesis to come back, for his dream walking to return. It happens slowly. A whisper in the corner, a shadow with no body, cold spots. His friendly ghosts return first; the nannies, the Gardner, the nice soldiers. Then the screamers return; the violent deaths, the murdered, the murderers. It takes him the rest of the week to control the screamers again. 

He has a backlog in information from the ghosts that he has to go through but it’s worth it. They tell him why he was pushed, why Reginald seemed happy in the infirmary. The gleam in Reginald’s eyes was because he had figured out a new way to break Four. 

Drugs. 

The morphine was altered in order to block Four’s powers, created to introduce the idea of drugs being a release from his powers. The testing of various drugs was meant to start getting him addicted to the feeling of silence. Reginald was playing a long game, hoping that Four would become an addict, chasing that silence, ruining his mind and body in the process. No normal drug would ever block Four’s powers in the way that Reginald’s would, Number Four would never get that silence again from normal drugs. 

Because Four has been acting like he’s afraid of his powers, he figures he now has to act like he’s becoming addicted. He has to make Reginald think that he’s following the path he is being made to take in order to stop Reginald from paying attention to him. 

- - -

Reginald does drug testing on all of the children, excluding Seven. 

He focuses his attention on Four and Six. 

With Four, he tests everything twice. First with the normal drug, to see how they affect Four and his power, then with a modified drug that suppresses his powers, to get him craving the silence they brought.

With the normal drug, nothing keeps his powers at bay. They make him less likely to care that there are dead people but ultimately they barely make the ghosts quieter. Four hates the second version of the drugs because they work. He has to act like he’s relieved when his ghosts disappear when it's the farthest thing from the truth.

With Six, Reginald wants to see if anything can stop  **Them** . None of the drugs work.  **They** metabolize the drugs too fast. 

Reginald decides that the only way to stop  **Them** is to kill Six.

With the other children, he got a mixed result. 

One, like Six, metabolizes the drug too fast for them to have any effect in anything other than in large doses. 

Two, Three, and Five all get physically affected while on drugs. None of their powers are affected, they only get affected like normal people that just so happen to have superpowers. 

\- - -

After Four’s jaw healed and they finished the drug testing, Four played his part. After long sessions in the Mausoleum, in which he would practice his power uninterrupted because there were no cameras, he would break into the infirmary drug cabinet or the alcohol cabinet. He would steal some pills or a bottle and either hide them or throw them out to make it look like he was turning towards drugs. Sporadically, when his powers visibly bothered him, he would act drunk or high. Of course, Four’s general personality helped with his charade as he didn’t need drugs to set things on fire or to turn everybody's hair pink.

Reginald was the first person to notice it and when he did the ghosts on him said that he looked incredibly smug for an emotionless man. He did nothing to stop it. Pogo and Grace, when they noticed, grew concerned then they were told  ~~ programmed  ~~ not to stop Four from indulging his weakness. 

While this went on, Four started to steal things from the more abandoned parts of the house in order to pawn off. He knew that if he played the part of the junkie then he would need an escape plan to leave the Academy later on. He started sneaking out at night and found the people who would allow a seven-year-old to pawn off artifacts for money. He hid his slowly growing stash of money somewhere only accessible to people with telekinesis. 

The only person that suspected that Four wasn’t just the mask he portrayed was Six, and it would stay like that for a while longer.


	6. Phase Two

The kids are eight when Four starts the second part of his plan. 

The first part was to train his powers in secret while playing into Reginald's expectations. The second part was to help Six and Seven do the same. Both Six and Seven’s powers have suffered because of Reginald's schemes and it was time to change that. 

One of the harder aspects of the plan was finding the time and place to implement it. They only had a half-hour of free time once a week on Sunday and this would take longer than that. The best time would be after curfew but while Four is known to be awake late into the night Six and Seven aren’t, and they don’t have experience with sneaking out without being caught that Four does.

Then it hits him.

He can dream walk with both Six and Seven and explain everything that he knows then. Now all he had to do was convince them he was telling the truth.

- - -

Four dream walks that night.

He started off in his own dreamscape. It’s a large open field in between a calm ocean during the sunset and a tranquil forest. It's all vibrant colors with a calm atmosphere. He closed his eyes to reach around him with his power in order to feel for the people around him. In his immediate vicinity, he feels six others, his siblings. He searches for the most familiar of them. The one that felt large and otherworldly, that connects to other beings. He finds the second person, the one that feels like a musical breeze that’s muffled through noise-canceling headphones.

Four called both of them to him, pulling them into his dream.

Six, being used to Four’s dream walking, merely stumbled slightly and turned to glare at Four. Seven, not being used to this and having no idea about what was going on, fell down into a heap in the grass.

Seven gathered herself.

“What? Where- Four!? What's going on?”

Six sighed softly in exasperation as Four started giggling a little maniacally. 

“This, meine schwester, is dreamwalking! Tada!” cue jazz hands.

Seven looked incredulously around, “what’s dream walking?” she softly asked.

Six answered her, “Dreamwalking is traveling to other people's dreams, we think it’s connected to Four’s primary ability. Why are we both here though?”

Four braced himself. This was it.

“You both are here because I have something to discuss with you both,” he paused, collecting his thoughts, “our dear old Dad doesn’t have our best interest in mind. I’m not really afraid of my power, and the ghosts have a lot of things to say about Reginald. First, Six, when we were younger you and  **Them** got along and actually communicated, but then Reginald did something and there was a disconnect. Seven, you have powers, Reginald got scared and made you think you were ordinary.” 

Silence.

“I-what? What do you mean I have powers? Four, I-I can’t have powers.” Seven looked like her universe just shattered. 

“Four? What do you mean?” Six dazedly asked. If he could get along with  **Them** … 

Four continued, “Seven, when we were younger, Three was told to rumour us, to make us believe that you were just ordinary. She rumoured me into forgetting my telekinesis as well-”

“You have telekinesis?” Six and Seven’s voices overlapped.

“Yeah, Reginald decided that I would be safer with only one power. So. The rumour. But that’s not important right now. Right now we are talking about you guys.”

They glanced at each other. 

“Right, so what do you want us to do?” asked Six, he could see where Four was going with this, but he needed to hear it. 

Four looked both of them in the eyes, “I want us to get out from under Reginald’s thumb, to be our own people. He’s trying to break us but I refuse to be broken. I want to train Seven in her powers and include her. I want to make sure  **They** won’t kill you.” 

“All r-right,” Seven stuttered, “how are we going to do this? We need to physically meet up to train my powers. What even is my power?

“According to our nannies, you can take sound and convert it into energy or something, we'll figure it out, don't worry. Reginald also has you on power suppressing medication so I think we need to slowly wean you off of them before we go further.” 

Seven paled and Six moved to comfort her. “My anti-anxiety meds are suppressing my powers?” 

“Don’t worry, we’ll help you. We just need to make a plan.” Six reassured her, looking towards Four to start planning.

- - -

They started planning the logistics of secretly training themselves. When asked if the others could be trusted, Four pointed out that One and Three would go immediately to Reginald, Two might tell Grace who would tell Reginald, and Five is too confrontational not to bring it up with Reginald.

They’re on their own.

They start by weaning Seven off of her meds. She starts slowly by taking them only at breakfast as prescribed and not whenever she feels strong emotion. Then, as the weeks go on they decrease that amount as well, making sure that she has control over her powers before giving her more access. She soon gains excellent control over her power and the ability to convincingly fake taking pills.

Four only waited this long to tell her about her powers because she’s had four years to lull Reginald into thinking she’s obedient. Eight-year-olds are also much better actors than four-year-olds are while having better emotional control. 

Six starts meditating and communicating with  **Them** . Together they work out a truce. Now  **They** won’t come out unexpectedly and uncontrollably if Six lets  **Them** out for more than just killing. Apparently only being allowed out into this world just to kill isn’t the healthiest. Who knew?

The three of them are now sneaking out regularly after bedtime to meet in one of the abandoned rooms without any cameras. They train together, they laugh together, they grow together. 

They perfect their masks for Reginald. 

Four is the disappointment. The one afraid of the world around him. The one that acts out and steals drugs. 

_ (Four is the planner. The one with all of the information. The one that’s in control and good at what he does.) _

Six is the good soldier. The one that’s afraid of himself. The one that's obedient and loyal.

_ (Six is the spy. The one that no one would suspect. The one that has made peace with  _ **_Them_ ** _ and only loyal to those that deserve it.) _

Seven is Ordinary. The one that’s excluded from everyone. The one that’s weak and powerless. 

_ (Seven is the powerhouse. The one that knows her worth. The one that’s confident and sarcastic.) _

They survive. They thrive.

  
  


**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i hate writing dialogue but i tried. Yay!


	7. Birthday Surprises

A household run by Sir Reginald Hargreeves is an organized house that has an ironclad routine. The children wake up at 6:30 each day and are at breakfast at 7 a.m., they eat in absolute silence for 30 minutes. The morning is used for physical training. By the time the children are eight they no longer need their fighting instructor, all are able to successfully spar. They eat lunch in complete silence. After lunch, from 12:30 to 3:30 all of the children have lessons with Grace and Pogo. Between lessons and dinner is personal training with Reginald for one kid and supervised independent study for the others. They eat dinner in silence. They go to bed at 8:30.

On Sunday’s they get a half hour's worth of free time. Sometimes Reginald teaches them strategies for future situations during their physical training. Sometimes a tutor is brought in to teach them something new. 

These are all of the official variations of the schedule. 

Unofficially, someone's personal training sometimes takes the entire day. Or all of the kids are sick. Or Reginald is on a business trip. Or someone (Four) sets fire to their room and the house has to be evacuated. Or the children sneak out of their rooms at night.

This schedule gets disrupted on their ninth birthday. 

Their birthdays have been treated like any other day for all their lives so it was unusual to have their lessons and personal training canceled for the day. Instead, they all gathered in the living room, waiting to see what they were going to be doing. They waited in silence, glancing at each other to check that none of them knew what was going on.

Grace walked in with a smile. 

“I’m sure you are all wondering what we have planned today,” she smiled, “as you are now nine we decided that as a birthday present we would be giving you names!”

Several voices rang out. 

“What!”

“Really?”

“Why?” 

They all overlapped each other, trying to be heard. Grace smiled softly at them. “Yes, really. If you please line up we can get started.”

They all quickly ran to line up, shoving each other to get there faster. In the chaos, they overlooked Five not jumping ahead like he usually does. 

“All of your names are either related to where you were born or popular there now.” Grace started at One. 

“You shall be Luther. The name Luther means  _ Army Of The People _ and is of English origin.” 

She moved down the line to Two. “You are now Diego. The name Diego means  _ Short Form Of San Diego _ and is of Spanish origin.” 

“You will be Allison, meaning  _ Son Of The Noble One _ and is of German origin, but popular in America, where you were born,”  ~~ Three  ~~ Allison beamed up at Grace. 

Grace stopped in front of Four. “Your name shall be Klaus. It means  _ Victory of the peopl _ e and is German.”

She turned to Five and this is when everyone noticed his glare. 

“Your name-”

“No.”

They all look incredulously at Five when he interrupted Grace.

“I am not wasting time on getting a name,” he stared resolutely at them, “there is no point trying to remember to react to a new name when I’m used to my own name. I will be sticking with being Five.” He emphasized his point by crossing his arms.

It takes a moment for Grace to process this but when she did she said, “Well, you don’t have to take a name if you don’t want to, silly! If you ever change your mind you can ask for the name I picked out for you, Ok?” Seeing Five’s nod she then turned towards Six like nothing happened, leaving the rest of them gaping.

“Number Six, should you choose to accept it, your name will be Benjamin, Ben for short. Benjamin means  _ Son of My Right Hand  _ and is Hebrew in origin, as your birth mother was visiting Israel when you were born.” Grace said the fact about his birth mother with a small smile before moving towards Seven.

“You, my dear, will be called Vanya. Vanya means  _ God Is Gracious _ and is of Slavic origin, as you were born in Russia.”  ~~ Seven  ~~ Vanya bounced happily in place. 

They all happily started to try out each other's names, feeling the newness on their tongues as they spoke them. 

A few minutes go by like this before they turn towards Five and ask him why he didn’t want a name. He stated that he “didn’t want to be burdened with the connotations that come with having a name.” 

Before they can say anything to that, Reginald entered the room and interrupts them. “If you are all quite done, you are needed in the foyer.” He then swiftly turns and exits. They all exchanged wary looks before moving to follow Reginald, all of them wondering what was going on.

When they enter the entrance hall they see five chairs lined up next to the carpet, all facing a sixth chair set up under a light and with a little stool next to it. In the stool sits a large burly man with tattoos that Reginald would usually scoff at. 

~~ Seven ~~ Vanya took a quick look at the number of chairs and realized that this would not include her. A year ago she most likely would have hidden on the stairs, desperate to be included with the rest of her siblings. Now, as she looked at the tattoo gun in the mystery man’s hand, she realized that she’s ok with being left out of this as long as she still has her siblings. 

Reginald gave the order to sit down, reaching out to stop  ~~ Four ~~ Klaus from trying to sit with the others. “Number Four! You shall go first.”

Singled out, Klaus headed towards the main chair, hesitating briefly while waiting for an explanation. When he finally sat down Reginald explains, “as you are older and getting closer to the debut of the Umbrella Academy you need to have the ability to be identified as the Umbrella Academy. You will all sit and receive your Umbrella tattoos, this is non-negotiable.”

Klaus slowly held his hand out towards the tattoo artist in trepidation. He wasn’t afraid of the pain, he was used to pain as a  ~~ child soldier ~~ trainee superhero, but he was more afraid of the permanent brand connecting him forever to the Umbrella Academy.

A buzzing sting piercing his skin signaled the start of the tattoo. The entire process is long and painful, especially for an ADHD nine-year-old, so Klaus distracted himself by listening to his ghosts, and spitefully doesn’t react to the pain like Reginald wants him to. 

When he’s done he’s ordered to stand by the side of the foyer and watch as  ~~ Three  ~~ Allison gets tattooed. She looked surprised at the pain and quickly glanced at Klaus like she couldn’t believe the ‘attention seeker’ didn’t bemoan his fate. Then she registered the pain and had to bite her lip to keep from crying out. 

After she leaves the chair, cradling her arm and huddling next to Klaus,  ~~ Two ~~ Diego gets into the chair. It's no secret that Diego hates needles, always looking away from shots and puking at stitches, so it was no surprise when the tattoo gun touched his arm, he fainted. The tattoo artist didn’t even pause, didn’t even check up on him, just kept going like tattooing an unconscious nine-year-old was a daily occurrence. 

After Diego was carried off by Grace, Five took the chair. He flinched and whimpered.  ~~ Six ~~ Ben followed him, tears tracking down his face. Finally it was  ~~ One ~~ Luther’s turn. He put on his brave 'leader' face but still clutched his arm once he was done. 

The tattoos weren’t wrapped so all of them could see the umbrella within a circle that had their number on it. Some of them recognized the power play for what it was; a brand forever marking them as Reginald’s and reminding them that they were numbers first, people second. Others (One, Two, Three) wore the tattoo proudly, stating that they’re now officially a superhero team. 


	8. Interlude of Mayhem

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A day in the life of the Hargreeve siblings.

  
  


After turning nine and getting actual names, the seven kids all start sneaking out at night. Klaus and Five, having been the first to sneak out, take the lead, dragging Ben and Vanya with them around the city. Allison is the next, getting anything she wanted from various stores and learning about the outside world. Diego, in an effort to beat Luther, starts to tentatively leave the Academy. Luther has to be dragged out of the house by Allison in order to actually break some rules. 

Sometimes they meet up together, on the rare occasions that Luther can be convinced to sneak out, and find places that would accept seven rowdy nine-year-olds with almost no knowledge of the modern culture. They get kicked out of many coffee shops and diners before they finally find Griddy’s, a donut shop, willing to deal with them. They start going to Griddy’s together, all seven of them, whenever they need a break. 

Training becomes harsher than usual, meaning the kids need breaks more than usual. Along with them sneaking out of the house regularly, their antics in the house pick up as well. Prank wars become more vicious and common, games of tag and hide and seek last weeks in between training. They fight and play and laugh and shout (and never cry) and try their best. 

- - -

Like most pranks, the newest one gets blamed on Klaus. Klaus, like the good brother he is, doesn’t snitch on Ben or Vanya when they prank the others, because no one would believe him anyway. Six and Seven are the siblings that are publicly quiet and obedient, which lets them get away with way more than their other, more rebellious siblings. Klaus adds to the assumption that he’s involved in the majority of pranks by being the class clown and by never taking anything seriously. Sometimes, though, he gets away with a prank by it being physically impossible for him to do, according to the others, like when he moved some of their textbooks on top of the chandelier and Five was blamed.

This time, it’s Vanya who pranks everyone. She set it up during physical training because it's the only time where everyone in the house other than her has to be in the same place at the same time. She essentially has the house for herself. Usually, she uses this time to get ahead of her school work or to play her violin when she isn’t watching or helping the others training. Today she snuck into their classroom and set everything up, finishing right before lunch. 

During lunch, the only thing stopping her from bouncing in anticipation of the chaos that is planned is her practice and experience in being stone-faced and hard to read. Five and Ben keep glancing at her in suspicion, likely picking up on her excitement. Klaus just tilted his head to the side, listening, before nodding at her in approval. Despite the fact that she’s been off of her suppressants for almost a year now she still flushed with the acknowledgment and the fact that they’ve  _ noticed her _ .

To her, the meal drags on and on as she drowns in her anticipation. She had to force herself to walk calmly out of the room once they are dismissed. This is by far not the first prank she’s pulled, but it is the first one where she’s getting more than just her siblings so she’s extra excited. Of course, she only had this week to pull this off but she’s still proud of what she managed. 

They all enter the classroom, excited for the rare joint class with all seven of them. Pogo and Grace are in the front, setting up the projector and talking among themselves. Today is an advanced first aid class. These classes have been getting more frequent as they’ve grown up, getting them prepared for being superheroes. They have already gotten through the basics of first aid, but as they’re constantly told, it’s better to be prepared for anything. The only reason Vanya is included in these lessons is that she is a ‘liability’ to the team and has to be prepared to help her siblings. 

They don’t have to sit in numerical order so Klaus has claimed the back of the room with Vanya, in order to see everyone's reactions. Ben and Five claim a desk in the middle together and up at the front are Luther, Diego, and Allison, all determined to prove themselves as the best. 

Grace turned around to face them while Pogo loaded up a slide show. She smiled briefly before she started, “Today is about desensitizing you to the sights that you might see on missions. It is imperative that you do not freeze when faced with major injuries or any deaths that might happen.” 

This is the only warning they get before the slide show started.

They start off relatively easy. Pictures of broken bones and bleeding lacerations, nothing that they didn’t see in their basic first aid course. Diego and Allison still flinch a little at the suddenness of the pictures. Then came the crushed limbs and abdominal injuries. Allison had to force herself not to look away, Diego had a white-knuckled grip on the table, Luther stifled a groan, and Vanya squeaked. Soon the injuries are fatal, featuring too much blood and too many pieces. Almost everyone in the room paled and, after a particularly gruesome picture when Allison rushed to the trash can to puke, they stopped. Klaus and Ben, the only two unaffected by the images, shared a look. 

At this, Vanya took a fortifying breath and used her power to cut through several pieces of string around the room. 

**Bam!**

Shrieks fill the air as red streamers and confetti blasts out of the cannons placed around the room, shocking everyone with the sudden deafening sound. The dark red of the confetti imitated the red on the screen closely enough that Allison sprinted out of the room and Five instinctively jumped to a defensible position in the corner of the room. The table in the front of the room broke in half from where Luther gripped it too tightly. One of the cannons got a knife from Diego while Ben ducked under his table. Vanya had to hide her face behind her bangs to hide her smirk while next to her Klaus was cackling maniacally. Pogo, who had left the classroom for the presentation, hobbled in when he heard the noise while Grace merely smiled indulgently at the back row where Klaus is still cackling next to Vanya. 

Of course, all of the noise coming from the school section of the house alerted Reginald that something was amiss. When he investigated he found Allison missing, Five looking disgruntled in the corner, Luther and Diego arguing with each other about their reactions, Ben and Vanya suspiciously blank-faced (not like they were suspects to Reginald) and Klaus breathless with laughter in a room filled with confetti. 

“Number Four!” he barked, because  _ obviously _ this  _ must be _ Klaus’ fault. “You obviously need more time in training if you have time to do this!”

Hearing this, Vanya froze, knowing that Klaus was going to get punished and not being able to do anything about it. She looked over when she felt a nudge and saw Klaus looking at her, his eyes saying  _ it’s ok _ . Reassured, she tuned back into what Reginald was saying. 

“You shall have personal training for the entirety of tomorrow for this stunt, Number Four! All of you, dismissed!” He quickly turned on his heel and left. 

- - -

Later, when they are supposed to be in bed but are in one of the attics with no cameras in it, Allison brings up the lesson before they were pranked. She looks faintly ill when she asks them what they thought of the pictures and videos they were shown. Immediately, Luther and Diego try to one-up each other;  _ I wasn’t scared, it was just gross!  _ and  _ I was f-fine, really! _ But begrudgingly, they both agreed that they didn’t like to look at the pictures for too long. Five and Vanya didn’t verbally agree but were nodding along with them. 

Allison, noticing that both Ben and Klaus were being remarkably silent (mostly Klaus) about this, turned towards them with a “Well?” pinning them with a searching gaze.

They exchanged a _Look_. 

With that _Look_ , they decided that their siblings with their ‘cleaner’ powers didn’t need to know that the bodies shown today barely rated on their gore scale. With the dead always following Klaus around (though he’s gotten better at pushing them back) and with all of the training that Reginald makes Ben do, they aren’t nearly as affected by blood and guts as the rest of their siblings were. So Ben makes a comment about a strong constitution while Klaus just laughs off the question, _ just Klaus being Klaus after all _ , and they move on. 

- - -

Later, Klaus gets locked in the Mausoleum for 24 hours. He’s claustrophobic and the presence of the violent, screaming, and wailing ghosts pressing against him when he’s thrown in makes him breathless with panic before he shakily breathes out and manages to push them out far enough to actually practice his powers in a way that’s useful to him. When his time is up he’s shaky and pale and flinches away from both light and Reginald. Reginald thinks this is because he’s terrified but in truth, Klaus is shaky from exhaustion and a lack of food, pale because he’s drained his power and he always looks closer to death when he uses up his powers, and he’s flinching because it’s bright and he’s always scared of Reginald. 

Later, Klaus enters his room to find Ben waiting for him, and he falls asleep next to the heat of  **Them** .

Later, Vanya’s violin case will be wrapped in duct tape, and Diego’s knives will be pink and glittery, and Luther’s toothpaste will be mashed bananas, and the prank war brings mayhem.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> this chapter fought against me so hard and I can't wait to get to the later chapters as they might actually cooperate.


End file.
